England defender Harry Maguire will be involved in today’s game against Scotland
England defender Harry Maguire will be involved in today’s Euro 2020 group game against Scotland, says manager Gareth Southgate.
England were without Maguire for Sunday’s victory over Croatia due to the Manchester United defender still recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered in May which kept him out for the remainder of the season.
But yesterday Maguire declared himself fit and available for today’s Group D game at Wembley, and Southgate has confirmed he will play a part in the match but is undecided over whether he will start the centre-back.
Southgate also offered a positive update on the progress of Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson, who has seen his preparations for Euro 2020 hampered by an injury sustained while playing for his club.
Henderson came off the bench in a pre-tournament friendly against Romania, which England won 1-0, but was criticised for his performance after missing a penalty.
But Southgate has stressed that Henderson is making big strides as he bids to regain match fitness and says the midfielder brings a lot to the squad even if he is not playing.
While all eyes in the UK will be on England vs Scotland, there are two other games at Euro 2020 on Friday, including Croatia vs Czech Republic in Group D.
Croatia will be out to produce a response following a 1-0 defeat by England at Wembley in their opening Euro 2020 Group D match, while the Czechs could secure a place in the knockout stage with victory after beating Scotland on Monday.
In Group E, there is a shock leader as Slovakia lead the way after their superb 2-1 win against Poland in their opening game.
They take on Sweden on Friday, who themselves battled to a hard-fought goalless draw against Spain in their curtain-raiser, with both sides in confident form heading into the second game of the group.
Goals in each half from Memphis Depay and Denzel Dumfries saw Netherlands cruise past Austria 2-0 in Amsterdam to book their place in the last 16 of Euro 2020 as Group C winners.
The hosts took an early lead from a penalty, given after the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee who spotted that Austria captain David Alaba had caught Dumfries in the box, with Depay converting from the spot.
And it was Dumfries who doubled the Dutch lead midway through the second half with a simple close-range finish after the visitors’ offside trap malfunctioned badly, the PSV Eindhoven right-back’s second goal of the tournament.
As a result, Frank de Boer’s side have joined both Italy and Belgium in the knockout phase having won Group C with a match to spare, while Austria can join them with a win against Ukraine in their final game on Monday.
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